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Student and Family Information Taskforce

Chair Loren Crabtree Chancellor University of Tennessee System
  Linda Bennett Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs University of Southern Indiana
  Daniel Bradley President Fairmont State University
  Richard Cost President University of Maine at Fort Kent
  Beverly Edmond Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Alabama A&M University
  Dennis Hengstler Assistant Vice Chancellor for Planning and Analysis University of California -Berkeley
  Richard Howard Director-University- wide, Office of Institutional Research University of Minnesota
  Bonita Jacobs Vice President for Student Development University of North Texas
  Scott Olson Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs Minnesota State University, Mankato
  Margaret Roark Senior Student Services Coordinator University of Wisconsin Extension
  Teri Thill Institutional Researcher University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
  Lori Varlotta Vice President for Student Affairs California State University, Sacramento


Task Force Charge

1. Examine the 1996 reports of the AASCU, AACC and NASULGC Joint Commission on Accountability Reporting (JCAR) and the AAU data task force.

2. Tentatively identify the data elements to be included in the student and parent information data set using as a touchstone the following question: “What information would be most helpful to prospective students and their parents in deciding which university best fits their educational wants and needs?”

a. Review the literature on college/university selection to determine which data elements critical to the selection decision must be included in the data set.

b. Empanel focus groups of students and parents as needed to test the initial determinations about data that should be included in VSA.
3. Decide specifically how cost of attendance data should be reflected in the data set. Make these decisions for both list prices and net prices. Examine the possibility of having each campus include a “net price calculator” to provide estimates to students of varying ability to pay about their cost of attendance.

4. Decide how time to degree, graduation rates and “success” rates should be defined and reported in the data set. Where existing information is not available to make the ideal measurement, identify that deficiency and decide what measurements should be included based upon the available data. Again, the AAU data task force and JCAR may provide useful guidance.

5. Examine the logistic and financial feasibility of including each element in the data set and exclude data elements if they prove not to be feasible to include.

6. Develop the final listing of each element to be included in the VSA Student and Parent Data set by each participating university.

7. Define each element so that it will be measured in the same fashion on each campus and its measurement will be transparent to all. Where possible utilize the definitions chosen by the AAU data taskforce and/or JCAR.

8. Develop uniform reporting formats for the student and parent information.